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Vice President Joe Biden used the swearing-in ceremony of CIA Director Leon Panetta Thursday to deliver one of the Obama administration’s harshest critiques of President George W. Bush’s approach to intelligence-gathering – promising a sharp break from policies that “caused America to fall short of its founding principles and which gave Al Qaida a powerful recruiting tool.”

“The most important thing for this job, in my view,” Biden said before issuing Panetta the oath of office, “is to give the president of the United States the unvarnished truth, not what he thinks the president may want to hear.”

Standing in front of the marble wall featuring 89 stars that represent the CIA’s fallen agents, Panetta picked up the theme in his first remarks as director.

“I will provide the very best intelligence, independent judgments not influenced by the politics of the situation, but truly real, objective information that can be presented to the president and the policymakers of this country so that they can protect the American people,” Panetta said.

Panetta, a former congressman from California and chief of staff to President Clinton, also promised “to re-establish a relationship with the Hill.” Members of Congress often complained that the Bush administration did not consult them about intelligence matters.

“I believe deeply in the role of the Congress in the challenges that I face,” Panetta said.

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A number of officials were seated in the audience – including White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, former CIA directors William Webster and Stansfield Turner, and the wife of George Tenet, the Bush administration’s CIA director behind the Iraq war intelligence.

Scores of CIA employees who descended into the lobby also looked on as the vice president administered the oath to Panetta — or took “a crack at administering this oath,” as Biden joked.

Biden directed some of his remarks toward them, too.

“For the president and me, the truth is this: Your mission is more important than any time in all of our history,” he said, after outlining the dangers facing the United States: Al Qaeda, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, nuclear proliferation, and global economic instability.

Readers' Comments (36)

Will there be enough ocean water desalination plants and facilities around the world in time to consume any rising in ocean levels due to global warming? Saudi Arabia is the acknowledged leader in such field, yes? And, well why not: for all those people who always bemoaned that Bush's Middle East wars were only about oil you have realized that these wars are doing the exact opposite for oil industry future than you expected, I think? And, If Al Gore hadn't riden in with An Incovenient Truth to try to keep some credit for Democrats and done so scaring American Children into thinking their parents were killing polar bears with every gallon of gas purchased, oil companies might never have had short moments at outrageous gas pricing, right? It was all the Democrats fault, right?

This is a cry in support of Chip Harrison who was INTIMIDATED by the Oklahoma Police and Obama's SS because he had a sign in his car that said, "Abort Obama Not the Unborn." The police officers who stopped motorist Chip Harrison and confiscated a sign from his car later told him he has a right to his beliefs, but the police still thought that the Secret Service "could construe this as a threat against President Obama" according to the incident report released this morning. The SS knew it wasn't a threat but still came to Harrison's home to look around. This is no lie!

feel lots better with all these good Democrats Obama has put in place. Hey, I'm especially impressed. I voted for Hillary.

I met Leon Panetta in 1968 when we were on the then White House Transition team and he was a Republican. I have known him since. He is a man of intellectual strength and of impeccable integrity. Whether he can corral the rogue elements of our intelligence efforts is a Herculean task. and remains to be seen...if it can be done, Mr. Panetta will do it'. I forgot to mention that he is doggedly agressive in smelling out moral, policial or intelligence corruption.

At a swearing-in ceremony for CIA Director Leon Panetta, Vice President Joe Biden outlined the dangers facing the United States and emphad the government’s need for intelligence that represents “unvarnished truth.”

This is a cry in support of Chip Harrison who was INTIMIDATED by the Oklahoma Police and Obama's SS because he had a sign in his car that said, "Abort Obama Not the Unborn." The police officers who stopped motorist Chip Harrison and confiscated a sign from his car later told him he has a right to his beliefs, but the police still thought that the Secret Service "could construe this as a threat against President Obama" according to the incident report released this morning. The SS knew it wasn't a threat but still came to Harrison's home to look around. This is no lie!

Actually, you should ask who will mourn the death of the liberal socialists? With the DOW tanking daily along with the public approval of the socialist congress and the growing obamalama voter remorse would be the tip of this political iceberg.

Actually, you should ask who will mourn the death of the liberal socialists? With the DOW tanking daily along with the public approval of the socialist congress and the growing obamalama voter remorse would be the tip of this political iceberg.

I second that. First the media said Obama was supposed to be the second coming of Abe Lincoln. Then it was FDR. I'm going with Jimmy Carter. And it took a Carter to get a Reagan.

At a swearing-in ceremony for CIA Director Leon Panetta, Vice President Joe Biden outlined the dangers facing the United States and emphad the government’s need for intelligence that represents “unvarnished truth.”

Big Joe Biden, White House Eunoch, swears in lobbyist Leon Panetta.

We were not going to have lobbyists in the Administration until the Community Organizer got the job from the illiterate vote.

Joe 'Plugs' Biden where was Race Commissar Eric 'ma daddy was white' Holder of the Commissariat of Racial Justice?,He Would fit nicely with the Rest of the Pack of Quisling Rats at Leon 'weasel' Panetta's Swearing in as Chief Commissar of the Commissariat of External Intelligence...And We Know that the Enemy Alien Rat with the Chimp like Face, our Installed "president" Has the Protection and Defence of the United States Which, as a Devout Islamist of the Nation of Islam Our Safety is His Only Concern You Can See the Caring in His Reptilian Eyes an Primate Like Face for his Non Islamo-Afro Warrior Citizens...

1. Leon Panetta is a good man, but I'm mystified why he was chosen as Director of CIA, especially since-- as Joe Biden reminded us-- this particular agency is especially important at this juncture in history. Can anyone give me a response? ( one that isn't crazy would be nice...)

2. Really, if Obama is such a Marxist why does he load his team with dyed-in-the-wool capitalists and Wall Street insiders? (This question is merely rhetorical)

Joe 'Plugs' Biden where was Race Commissar Eric 'ma daddy was white' Holder of the Commissariat of Racial Justice?,He Would fit nicely with the Rest of the Pack of Quisling Rats at Leon 'weasel' Panetta's Swearing in as Chief Commissar of the Commissariat of External Intelligence...And We Know that the Enemy Alien Rat with the Chimp like Face, our Installed "president" Has the Protection and Defence of the United States Which, as a Devout Islamist of the Nation of Islam Our Safety is His Only Concern You Can See the Caring in His Reptilian Eyes an Primate Like Face for his Non Islamo-Afro Warrior Citizens...

Turn yourself in. You will not be arrested. You will be medicated and diagnosed and maybe set free.

. Leon Panetta is a good man, but I'm mystified why he was chosen as Director of CIA, especially since-- as Joe Biden reminded us-- this particular agency is especially important at this juncture in history. Can anyone give me a response? ( one that isn't crazy would be nice...)

Could be wrong, but I suspect BO was looking for a Wash. insider that could truly be trusted. Panetta has a great reputation and is well respected on both sides of the aisle. He's a proven manager that's known for straight-talk. I suspect he's been given the mandate to do a little house cleaning as well. I don't see him in the position more that two years, he & wife have the public policy institute at Cal State Monterey Bay and he was doing very well in the private sector and he's getting up there in age. I suspect Rahm Emanuel & the Clintons weighed in big time on this pick. Overall, he's a good man IMHO...BO could have done much worse.

You should do as well as Pres. Bush, Leon. If you do, if the agency you now head keeps the US free of foreign attack for as long as you are in office, then you can take a bow. In the meantime, you'd be well advised to find out what Bush did so that you can be sure to follow in his footsteps. Quietly, of course; wouldn't want you to loose the loons running rampant in your party, now would we. You know the ones; more concerned about terrorists being hazed than the lives of their fellow citizens. Terrorists? Those are the guys who chop your head off -- slowly, on TV, with a dull knife, shouting god is great while they whittle away. Wouldn't want to offend their delicate sensibilities, do we or their supporters.